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Things were not looking up for the group. One hardship after the other struck at them like jackhammers, leaving little room to breathe. This was elevated by the additionally unwelcomed sound of skittering across a hard surface. Insects. Clenching his teeth, Shade looked in the direction of their newly acquired foe and chastised himself for the realization. He did not even begin to expect other monstrous sights within the sewers. Indeed, he had anticipated the unsavory, but nothing like this, and most certainly not more beasts. Had they come across thieves and murderers, the group could perhaps have managed to slay their adversaries through careful maneuvers, but an endless swarm of maggots was powerful not through the force of their strength, but their numbers.

“I have an idea,” Shade stated with a heart pounding against his ribs, “follow me,” the boy finished before he turned around and started in the opposite direction. It soon elevated into a full sprint, where the Dark Elf quite literally ran for his life. Indeed, in a situation such as this, one could find resourceful solutions. “Over here!” Shade exclaimed and turned to the right, before he kept running. The sound of insects chasing them was never smothered, and it simply proceeded to grow ever louder. Whether they were closing in on their prey or adding more to their army of skittering soldiers, one thing was set in stone. Halting a sprint would have led to certain death. 

Squeaking soon trickled through the darkness, and Shade turned once again, weaving into another corridor, “we’ll lead the roaches to the rats and let them take each other out!” The assassin exclaimed, looking behind him at the group which had hopefully managed to keep up. By themselves, not one of them would have been able to survive, and this quest grew exponentially more dangerous than initially expected. The rats were far larger than Shade had thought, and with the addition of bloodthirsty cockroaches the size of an actual, large rat, he had one solution up his sleeve, and little else. Run. 

However, with tactical approaches still offering themselves to him in the form of ideas, perhaps this would work. Using one enemy against the other had won countless battles in actual warfare. ‘The enemy of my enemy is a weapon’, Shade’s father had said, ‘a true assassin can slay their target using others as puppets, always remember that.’ It was quite common to hear words of wisdom from the old, ancient elf. An assassin who fell their enemy through the use of chess pieces rather than blades, was to be respected, indeed. Though this process required a masterclass in manipulation and foresight, Shade hoped that simply leading one enemy to the other would be enough to outsmart insects and rats.